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gle to make it 2-0 and Julia Yogis knocked in a pair with a hard-hit chopper, doubling the lead to 4-0 in the first.

Ross’ single up the middle widened the gap to 5-0 in the second.

“It’s definitely a confidence booster, for the whole team,” Ross said of the hitting performance.

Riley Nolan and Alyssa Miller also drove in runs in the second to stretch the lead to 8-0.

Another RBI by Ross, a sophomore, made it 9-0 in the third and she drove in two more in the fifth to make it 12-3.

“It’s been nice to see them grow from the beginning,” Ecker said of her squad. “They’re really all freshmen when you think of it because they all missed out on last year (because of the pandemic).

“Hopefully going forward, we’ll just keep hitting.”

Nolan belted an RBI triple in the fifth for the Vikings, helping to extend the margin to 15-3.

Of the freezing winds, Ross said: “It was rough, but when we work as a team, we get through everything.”

CRUSADERS MAKE SOME NOISE » Lansdale Catholic, also a young squad in 2021, got the bats going in the third.

Ella Moran came through with an RBI single to right and Sam McHugh’s two-run double kept the rally going.

LC also had a big fifth, keyed by Skylar Diehl’s two-RBI double.

The Crusaders travel to Hallahan Catholic on Tuesday.

“We’re extremely young, and inexperienced pitching-wise,” Crusaders coach Paul Suder said. “And with inexperienced pitching, sometimes your defense gets a little soft. So there’s probably a couple of balls we should have had.

“But the girls had a lot of intestinal fortitude. They battled. They went up there and got their cuts.”